Hilary told the Radio Times: "I don't know very much about her other than that she likes taupe. I hate taupe. I'm quite flamboyant and over-the-top in my interior design."

The businesswoman, who made her fortune in freight haulage, said her best Dragons' Den investment had been a mattress/duvet for caravans, boats and trucks.

But the self-made millionaire said: "What you're not told is that when the programme is broadcast other investors often make offers and the entrepreneurs then back out. So the poor Dragons have spent all this money during the period of 'due diligence' for nothing."

She denied her new Channel 4 show, The Intern, was like Lord Sugar's BBC One series The Apprentice.

"It's nothing like The Apprentice. It's got a heart, and me, kicking the candidates and tearing a strip off them when they need it.

"Every week there's a winner who walks away with a dream job," she added.